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So my old external monitor just failed, and I need to get a new one ASAP.

I think I've decided on this one:

  • IPS
    (The IPS is important to me, because I really need the best viewing angles.)

  • 34-inch ultrawide (ratio 21:9) (curved)

[
Amazon:
LG UltraWide 34WQ73A-B 34 Inch Curved IPS Computer Monitor with QHD Resolution Display, HDR 10 Compatibility, Built-in KVM, and USB Type-C, Black : Amazon.ca: Electronics

Manufacturer:
LG UltraWide™ 34 Inch QHD IPS HDR 10 Monitor (34WQ73A-B)
]

But I've never gotten a new modern monitor before,
so I just wanted to ask: might there be any unknown-unknowns I'm missing?

Because I do note that,
other than a couple slightly cheaper flat-screen models,
all of the other monitors at around-or-below $500 CAD that showed up in the amazon search for:
"monitor ultrawide 34 ips"
were actually VA panels, not IPS (or only said "LCD"/"LED", rather than specifying VA/TN/IPS)

So if this monitor is outstandingly cheap for monitors of its type,
maybe it has some deficiency I don't know enough to understand...?

I'm not into competitive gaming or anything,
so I think the low 60Hz refresh rate should be fine for me?
(I just want to be able to display as much information as possible on the screen at once.)
-- Like, I wouldn't expect there'd any reason the subjective experience of 60Hz could actually noticeably worse for me than a higher refresh rate?
Honestly, I'm not sure whether I would expect to be able to notice the difference at all...?
Or how do people experience the difference?
(
And the same with response time
-- I don't think I have much reason to care about that much?
)

But could there maybe be any issues with screen tearing/sync, etc...?
Because other than being able to fit lots of information on the screen for coding/writing/researching/etc,
I do also care about being able to watch video without distracting tearing/sync-issuse.

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  • There are a few 1-star reviews on that amazon link that claim the USB-C port can be defective. Something to consider if you plan on using that port.
    – Romen
    Aug 24 at 16:55
  • Tearing/sync is never a monitor problem. That's a GPU or software issue because what tearing actually is is a "bad" framebuffer with split contents. The monitor shows whatever it is told to show and it does that so fast you can't possibly see "tearing" in the actual pixel refresh.
    – Romen
    Aug 24 at 16:57
  • @Romen Ah, thanks. That's honestly how I thought it should work, but I noticed so many monitors advertising various different "adaptive sync" etc as features (eg "AMD FreeSync"). What are those about, then?
    – dwawlyn
    Aug 24 at 19:50
  • Traditionally you would need to enable VSync to avoid tearing in fullscreen games because this forces the GPU to only send one whole framebuffer whenever the monitor is ready for one (the monitor requests frames). When you disable VSync you are telling your GPU to just start the next frame right away and it could be half done writing over the old frame when it gets requested by the monitor. Now with FreeSync or G-Sync the GPU sends whole frames to the monitor as soon as they are done without any waiting. (The GPU pushes frames) and the monitor refreshes the matrix at any arbitrary rate.
    – Romen
    Aug 24 at 20:27
  • Thanks Romen, those are things I have missed :)
    – Irsu85
    Aug 25 at 7:27

1 Answer 1

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I don't have that monitor, but that price feels kinda high to me (but that's the case with almost all monitors I see). The 60Hz is about as fast as a normal mid-range or cheap laptop, resolution feels high for that size (but I also use a 1080p 27in TV as monitor so yea). I don't have any test data of that monitor availible on my comparison site, but it's IPS (from both the manufacturer and amazon listing) so it can't be that bad. The only thing that might be too low for you is the brightness, but it seems to be matte so that does not require as high brightness numbers. I don't see anything you might have missed

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1
  • Yeah, I agree honestly with "that price feels kinda high to me (but that's the case with almost all monitors I see)", but it seems low relative to the other similar monitors out there. And honestly a monitor seems kinda similar to, like, a mattress, in that, metaphorically, it really doesn't make sense to save a couple hundred bucks if it means spending the next years with springs poking you in the back, eh? Thanks for pointing out the matte (I missed that)... but I think that's a plus to me, yeah.
    – dwawlyn
    Aug 24 at 19:37

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